1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an outer door handle comprising a housing stationarily arranged in the door, comprising a bearing for a manually actuatable handle on the housing, especially for a folding handle foldable about a hinge axis horizontally arranged or slantedly arranged relative to the horizontal, wherein the handle has a handle arm and upon handle actuation acts on a lock arranged within the door, and comprising a pivotable latching member serving as a mass latching mechanism, which is normally in an ineffective release position relative to a support surface provided on the housing and, in this way, makes the handle actuatable, which, however, as a result of the inertia of its masses, in a crash situation reaches an active support position on this support location and thus blocks the handle. Here, so-called xe2x80x9cmass latching mechanismsxe2x80x9d are provided which act as an automatic locking device on the folding handle in a crash situation. The mass latching mechanisms are formed as pivotable latching members and ensure that during a lateral impact on the vehicle the door with its lock remains in the locked state. During a crash, acceleration forces occur. These forces are used by the masses of the latching member. In a crash situation, the latching member is moved by these forces into a support position relative to a support surface on the housing where the movement of the handle is blocked.
2. Description of Related Art
In the known outer door handle of this kind (DE 196 25 392 A1) the pivot bearing for the latching member is on the movable handle arm. Here the latching member is supported in a freely pendulous way. In this known outer door handle, the handle arm which is foldable together with the handle, on the one hand, and the latching member pivotably supported on the handle arm, on the other hand, form a modular unit movable together upon handle actuation. In this connection, the latching member moves pendulously freely on the movable handle arm. In this outer door handle, the handle is a so-called xe2x80x9cfolding handlexe2x80x9d where a hinge axle is supported horizontally within the housing. However, the invention is also suitable for outer door handles with handles embodied differently, for example, in connection with xe2x80x9cpulling handlesxe2x80x9d discussed in the following. The latching member usually points away with its free mass end, which is provided with a toothing, from a counter toothing provided on the housing. In a crash situation the mass end of the latching member is pivoted by the active inertia forces and engages with its toothing the counter toothing on the housing. Already upon the handle actuation during regular use, undesirable blockage can occur by means of the latching member which is entrained. In the support position of the latching member the support forces are transmitted via the pivot bearing onto the handle arm. The strength of this support action depends on the stability of the bearing of the latching member on the handle arm.
Mass latching mechanisms are also known from outer door handles (DE 196 10 200 A1) which are configured as the already mentioned xe2x80x9cpulling handlesxe2x80x9d having a vertical pivot axis at one end of the handle. The other end of the handle cooperates with a pivot arm which is supported, in turn, in the housing so as to be pivotable about a substantially vertical axis. The invention can be employed, as mentioned above, also for such outer door handles. In order to differentiate the movement of the pivot arm from the pivot movement of the latching member, in the following description the term xe2x80x9cfolding movementxe2x80x9d will be used in this connection, even though this term more closely fits the aforementioned configuration of the door handled as a folding handle. In the known outer door handles configured as a pulling handle the mass latching mechanism is a pivotable spring-loaded lever supported rotatably in a pivot arm. In this case, the mass latching mechanism, in analogy to the known folding handle, is thus pivotably supported in a component movable by the pulling handle. Therefore, the analog disadvantages as in the case of the above discussed folding handle are present.
The invention has the object to develop an inexpensive, compact outer door handle of the aforementioned kind which is reliable and which withstands high loads. This is achieved according to the invention in that the pivot bearing for the latching member is located on the stationary housing, that the movable handle arm has a shoulder and that this shoulder has correlated therewith a counter shoulder on the latching member, that the folding movement path of the shoulder arranged on the handle arm is intersected by the pivot movement path of the counter shoulder on the latching member and in the crash situation the shoulder comes to rest against the counter shoulder, that, however, normally in the release position of the latching member, the shoulder on the handle arm passes the counter shoulder of the latching member upon handle actuation.
According to the invention, the latching member is not pivotably supported on a movable component, like the handle arm or the pivot arm provided for this purpose in the prior art, but on a stationary component, i.e., on the stationary housing. Accordingly, the pivot bearing axis can be arranged external to the force transmission path which receives the support forces during blockage. The support position in the crash situation is realized with the invention in that the movable handle arm with a shoulder comes to rests against a counter shoulder on the latching member because the latching member, as a result of the inertia forces occurring during the crash situation, has been pivoted previously into its support position relative to the support location, also provided here, on the housing. The folding movement path of the shoulder intersects the pivot movement path of the latching member which is entirety separately supported relative to it, i.e., on the housing. In the normal situation, when the latching member is in its release position, the folding movement path of the shoulder provided on the handle arm or the pivot arm extends past the counter shoulder of the latching member.
However, in the normal situation a certain deflection movement of the latching member can occur. Already during the conventional handle actuation a small pivot movement of the latching member occurs without the latching member reaching its full support position relative to the housing. With this empty run movement of the locking member, which results already in the normal situation, its functionality in the crash situation is ensured. A freezing of the latching member on its pivot bearing because of extended periods of non-use is therefore not to be feared.